Tongue Tied?

Yes, despite evidence here I do still exist. As does Eskil – hooray!! But my young lad still doesn’t breastfeed – boo. And I’ve still been pumping all his meals – triple boo. And I’ve had a really nasty horrible cold for over a week now – quadruple boo.

Last Wednesday I thought my breastmilk supply had totally conked. I wasn’t keeping up with what Eskil wanted at all. I phoned the lactation consulatant at the hospital, and she could only suggest I pump more regularly (I’d already tried that and was pumping every 2 hours), get a script for domperidone, and/or supplement his breastmilk with formula. As I just wasn’t keeping up with Eskil, my husband headed to the chemist and got formula – but while he was gone I pumped and suddenly got a gush of milk. Eskil had been sleeping for long times over night, and I would only pump when we got up to feed him. I think this caused some blocked ducts that unblocked with massaging. So that gave me a small reprieve and the forumla was put to the back of a shelf so I didn’t have to see it, but it’s not like I suddenly had a fantastic supply. At the same time though I came down with a really nasty sore throat, etc; illness is another factor (along with pumping instead of breastfeeding) that contributes to supply issues. Great.

I was seeing my OB for my 6 week check on Friday, so made an appointment with the lactation consultant to see her that afternoon. Warren gave me a script for domperidone. When I saw the lactation consultant* she thought it was worth having Eskil’s pediatrician check and potential snip his tongue tie; although he could lift his tongue, she thought it might be interfering with him moving it forward and back. My OB left it up to the lactation consultant to tell me the dosage of domperidone; I’m taking 3 tablets 3 times per day. So far it hasn’t helped much, but on the other hand I’m still sick – and also realised I’m not drinking as much water as I probably should. My throat hurts so much I avoid swallowing.

His pediatrician was on the mainland for a conference so we couldn’t get an appointment earlier than his scheduled one, but we saw him yesterday. Eskil’s healthy and well nd agreed snipping the tongue tie might help – or it might not. But it was worth trying.

So it was done this morning. I felt awful and changed my mind a million times during the night about whether it was a good idea. However it seemed to distress me much more than him. Eskil had a really good feed on the boob right after, but the jury is still out. He always seems to be perverse and feed well in the breastfeeding clinic.

So I persevere. Eskil will be 7 weeks old tomorrow (ACK!); I don’t know how much longer I can take this. I’m going to call the lactation consultant on Monday and see if I can go in; he always seems to go on the boob there. Maybe they’ll let me go in on Wednesday too. I just want to either get this sorted or give up.

Luckily other than breastfeeding he’s AWESOME. Fun, attractive, healthy. Growing up way too fast. Did I mention he’s almost 5 cm longer than when he was born?! And that he’s up a kilo from his discharge weight?! Crazy!!

* This was the lactation consultant who I really got on with while in hospital. In the week after I was discharged I had dreams that she was Mary Poppins and would visit my house in the middle of the night for feeds.

Urgh – you poor thing! I hope you’re feeling better soon. Also, how great if this would fix the breastfeeding issues! I can’t believe he’s been on the outside for so long already – time flies when you’re pumping breastmilk (so it would seem)! Hope the staying at home minus hubby adjustment goes well too.